Sarah Virginia "Peaches" Dunlap

WADESBORO -- Miss Sarah Virginia "Peaches" Dunlap, age 84, of Chapel Hill and formerly of Wadesboro, died Thursday, February 13, 2003.
Funeral services will be 2:00 PM Monday, February 17, 2003, in Calvary Episcopal Church, Wadesboro, with Rev. Dan Brown officiating. Interment will follow in Eastview Cemetery. The family will greet friends in the Parish Hall of the church for one hour prior to the service.
Miss Dunlap was born in the Paris community of Anson County on March 1, 1918, a daughter of the late Janie MacAlister and John Jennings Dunlap II. She was a graduate of the Wadesboro City Schools and received her Bachelor of Science degree from the Womens College, University of North Carolina (now UNC-Greensboro). An honor student, she was the president of her senior class.
Miss Dunlap joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1942 as assistant to the Dean and secretary of the faculty for the School of Medicine. She left the University in 1965 to become Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the John and Mary Markle Foundation in New York City. In 1970, she rejoined the University as assistant secretary to the University's Board of Trustees. In 1972, she became the first Secretary of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a position she held until her retirement in 1984.
During 1979-80 she served as secretary for the University's Search Committee for a new Chancellor. After retiring, she held similar duties as the executive secretary for the Board of Governors Search Committee in their search for a new UNC system president.
Miss Dunlap was one of the first four recipients of the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards for "unusual, meritorious or superior contributions made by an employee, past or present, to the University." In 1987, she was one of five to receive the Distinguished Service medal awarded by the General Alumni Association. In recognition of her work for the university, the trustees at UNC elected her "Honorary Trustee Emeritus."
Survivors include a sister and brother-in-law, Armantine Dunlap Groshong and Ross Groshong of Oak Ridge, NC; a brother and sister-in-law, John Jennings Dunlap III and Helen Hales Dunlap of Wadesboro; nephews, Bennett Groshong of Raleigh and Todd Groshong of Boulder, CO; nieces Helen Jane Smith of Knoxville, TN, and Kate MacAlister Dunlap of Chatham County.
Also surviving are her great niece and nephews, Mya Smith, Ethan Smith, Caleb Bruce and Dylan Bruce. A sister, Jane MacAlister Dunlap, preceded her in death.
Memorials may be made to the charity of one's choice.
Leavitt Funeral Home is serving the Dunlap Family.